‘Grandma Jo’ celebrates 100th birthday

Jo was born in Pomona, Calif., but after marrying the love of her life, Bill Dodson, in 1940 when she was just 17, the couple moved to The Dalles, where they had their first son, Bill Dodson Jr.

Two years later, their daughter Nina was born, followed by son Raymond the next year.

However, Bill was in the military and fought in World War II, which meant that, for a time, Jo was left to take care of three young children. Though she had help from family, her daughter Nina Kruckenberg said, it was still a lot of work for Jo, but she handled it well, just like she handled everything.

As her husband came back from the war and her children grew up, Jo decided that she wanted to finish high school.

“She always said when we got in high school, she was gonna go back and finish,” her son Bill Dodson Jr. said. “And she did.”

That was how the Dodson children got to say something not many people can: They went to high school with their own mother. When the youngest, Raymond, hit ninth grade, Jo did what she said she would and went back to school. It was just one year she needed to finish, her senior year, and she officially graduated from The Dalles High School in 1959, when she was 36.

“The teachers had a lot of problems keeping up with her, you know, because she had been places that they hadn’t, done stuff that they hadn’t,” Bill Jr. said.

It was perfectly in character for Jo to set her mind to something and then do it. If there was something Jo could do to help or be involved, she did it, Nina said. She was active in the PTA and the local Girl Scout troop; in fact, Jo was a Girl Scout for more than 50 years, serving as a Den Mother, Brownie Leader, Junior Leader, Senior Leader and Girl Scout Leader Trainer.

Nina was a member of the Girl Scouts with her mom as her leader and having a mother who was so involved and passionate about Girl Scouts helped spark her own passion for it, she said, even into adulthood when her own daughter joined.

“I did the Girl Scout cookies,” Nina said. “I had them at my house and my house was full of cookies, which I delivered up to the leaders.”

Of course, Jo’s activities didn’t stop at Girl Scouts. She worked with the Red Cross, volunteered with 4-H, was very active within the Episcopal Church, helped start Meals on Wheels programs, served as a charter member of The Dalles hospital, worked with the Salvation Army and childcare centers, and was even involved with the development of Sorosis Park. She also helped put together and edit a Columbia Basin newspaper called “The Snooper.”

After moving to The Dalles, Bill Sr. ran Dodson Body and Paint, where she worked as secretary for 33 years. She was also a full working partner with Kennelly Glass, another business that she and her husband operated.

With all that she did in the community, Jo was the 1983 Woman of the Year in The Dalles. Her husband was Man of the Year at one point, as well.

Jo was always very involved in their lives, Nina said, despite all of her activities.

“She was great. She was right there for you. She helped you, worked with you,” Nina said. “When we came home for lunch, we would walk home from the high school and have a nice warm lunch … She always had a hot lunch for us when we got home. She’s a great mom.”

On Jo’s 100th birthday, Saturday, Jan. 14, there will be an open house at The Springs at Mill Creek, located at 1201 W. 10th St., where she lives. It will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and everyone is welcome to stop in and wish her a happy birthday. Granddaughter Trudy Lupkes asks that no one brings gifts, but cards are welcome. Masks will be required.